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Legend says that the inventor of absinthe was Dr Pierre Ordinaire. Initially he made his Absinthe as an all purpose remedy to cure epilepsy, kidney stones and other intestinal ailments. A person named Major Dubied took interest in Dr Ordinaires work and decided to capitalize on this elixir not for medical use but as an aperitif. Ultimately he purchased this formula from The Henriod Sisters, whom Dr Ordinaires entrusted with his sacred formula after his death. In 1805 The Pernod Fils Distillery was opened in Pontarlier, France and was run by Major Dubied’s son in law, Henri-Luis Pernod. By 1850, the factory was producing 20,000 liters of Absinthe a day with 26 stills.

Absinthes popularity began When the French troops were fighting in Algeria from 1844 to 1847. the climate change and living conditions made survival difficult for the soldiers. The Doctors prescribed rations of Absinthe to assist with their fevers, help receive treatment, and they also felt they could disinfect drinking water with it.

the coming back to France the soldiers brought back the Absinthe and made it famous in bars, bistros and cafes.

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Beginning in 1870, Absinthe became the most popular drink all over France. 5:00PM was “The Green Hour” or L’Heure Verte in every cafe and bistro in Paris. During the Beautiful Era, La Belle Époque, where arts flourished has attracted many artists: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Verlaine, Oscar Wilde, Vincent Van Gogh, Ernest Hemingway, just to name a few, and absinthe was their preferred drink.

[ THE BAN ]

“Absinthe became increasingly popular amongst all classes of French society, and began to displace wine as the standard drink of the French working class. During this period the French wine industry was struggling with the crippling effects of both oidium (a kind of mildew) and phylloxera (an incurable aphid infestation deadly to vines). Almost all the French national vineyard had to be replanted, a process that took decades and resulted in a prolonged shortage of wine, and a consequent rise in wine prices. Increasingly, absinthe was the affordable, and far more alcoholic, alternative to wine. This was both a major reason for its enormous popularity, and ultimately the root cause of its downfall. When the wine industry began to recover in the last decades of the nineteenth century, the politically well-connected grape growers, seeking to recover the market share they had lost, began to agitate for the prohibition of what they termed “unnatural” products like absinthe.” -excerpt from AbsintheOriginals.com

To escalate the ban, Jean Lanfray, a Swiss laborer drank 2 glasses of Absinthe, then shot his pregnant wife, his 2 daughters, and tried to kill himself. What was NOT mentioned was that he drank a lot more earlier, with Crème de menthe, cognac, 7 glasses of wine for lunch, coffee, brandy, and a whole liter of wine on his way home. The public blamed Absinthe for the murder, leading to 82,000 people signing a petition in Switzerland to ban Absinthe.

In addition, the wine industry schemed a propaganda claiming that Absinthe made people crazy with high percentage of thujone (a chemical compound found in wormwood). With active lobbying and signed petitions to forbid drinking Absinthe, the ban ultimately took place in Switzerland in 1910, followed by United States in 1912, then France in 1915. Absinthe became the scapegoat and hid underground as a forbidden spirit for 70 years.